Knock-down cot construction



July 18, 1961 H. P. LEHMAN ETAL KNOCK-DOWN COT CONSTRUCTION Filed Sept. 21, 1959 INVENTORS'. HOB/IE7 I. ZEA MA/V WALTER ,e. sum/ A rroe/v United States Patent 2,992,442 KNOCK-DOWN COT CONSTRUCTION Hobart P. Lehman and Walter R. Slane, Wichita, Kane, assignors to Airway-American Awning 60., Inc Wichita, Kans., a corporation of Kansas Filed Sept. 21, 1959, Ser. No. 841,126 6 Claims. (Cl. 114) This invention relates generally to furniture and more particularly to a new and improved knock-down cot construction the frame of which is formed of separable interfitting metal parts.

While the invention was primarily conceived for use as an animal bed or pallet, it can be made in larger sizes and will serve adequately to support the human body.

It is a primary object of the invention to provide a knock-down cot construction the parts of which can, be easily and, quickly disassembled and stowed for transportation by automobile or train, and can be easily and quickly re-assembled for use, all without the use of tools.

The invention, together with other objects, will be more clearly understood when the following description is read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an assembled side perspective view of a cot embodying our invention;

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken in the plane and in the direction indicated by the numerals and arrows 2-2 in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of one of the upright panel supporting posts which constitutes a part of the framework of the cot.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the frame includes two identical rigid U-shaped side members, designated as a whole by the numerals and 11, and two cooperating identical rigid U-shaped end members, designated as a whole by the numerals 12 and 13.

In assembled relationship the four mentioned frame members form a right parallelogram, as clearly shown in FIG. 2. The two side frame members are arranged with their respective bights 114 and 15 uppermost, and with their respective legs downturned, parallel and vertical to form four upright legs 16, 17, 18 and 19, for the cot.

The end frame members, 12 and 16, are arranged in reverse position, with their respective bights 20 and 21 lowermost, and with their respective legs 22, 23, 24 and 25 upturned, parallel and vertical to provide four upright panel supporting posts.

Intermediate their respective ends each of the upturned posts 22, 23, 24 and 25 of the end frame members is encircled by and rigidly carries an elongated rigid metal sleeve, the four sleeves being designated by the numerals 26, 27, 28 and 29. Each of the sleeves is also elongated in cross section and is arranged with the line of elongation at right angles to the respective bights 20 and 21 of the end members 12 and 13, as clearly shown in FIG. 2. Each sleeve is preferably welded to its respective post, as clearly indicated by the weld marks 30 in FIG. 2, but may be otherwise rigidly secured as by metal screws. Each sleeve is of a size to slidably receive and firmly embrace the respective downturned legs, 16, 17, 1-8 and 19 of the two side members 10 and 11.

Referring now more particularly to FIG. 3, each upright post is provided near its free upper end with a stop 31 which projects outward from the surface of the respective post. In this instance the stop is illustrated in the form of one-half of a metal ring welded to the exterior surface of the post, the respective stops being located generally in the positions indicated by the lead lines from numerals 22, 23, 24 and 25 in FIG. 2.

To complete the assembly a body supporting panel 32 is provided. This panel is preferably made from a suit- PatentedJuly 1-8, 1961 ice able flexible sheet material having good tensilestrength, such as, canvas or reinforced plastic. The panel 32 is made slightly larger than the parallelogram formed by the four frame members, and at each of its corners it is provided with grommets 33, 34, 35 and 36. The grommats are preferably of metal and of conventional construction, and the diameter of the holes through the grommets is very slightly larger than the diameter of the upturned posts22, 23, 24 and 25. As shown in FIG. 1 the grommets are slipped over the respective ends of the upturned posts and are moved downward until each contacts a respective one of the stops 31. This places all of. the grommets, in a common horizontal plane, and since the grommets are located slightly closer together than the distance. between the respective posts, the panel 32 is stretched taut when it is installed on the posts as described.

To complete the assembly each of the downturned" legs and each of the upturned vertical posts are fitted with rubber tips, which is conventional in such construction. The tips are generally cup shaped and their blind bores are of a size to fit tightly on the ends of the respective posts and legs. Since the tips are identical, all are designated by the single numeral 37.

To disassemble the cot it is first necessary to remove the rubber tips 37. The panel 32 is then removed by sliding the respective grommets upward 01f of the ends of the respective upturned posts 22, 23, 24 and 25. The side frame members 10 and 11 are then removed from the four sleeves 26, 27 28 and 29. The frame members may then be arranged with their bights together and may be wrapped up in the panel 32 for transportation or storage.

It will be understood by those familiar with this art that changes may be made in the specifically described construction without departing from the inventive concept, which is defined and limited only by the appended claims. For instance, the sleeves 26-29 would serve equally well if welded or otherwise rigidly secured to the downturned legs 16-19 of the side members. Similarly, the entire frame could be turned upside down so that the posts 22-25 would serve as legs, and so that the legs .16-19 would serve as the panel supporting posts.

Having described the invention with sufiicient clarity to enable those familiar with this art to construct and use it, we claim:

1. A cot of the class described including a generally rectangular frame and a taut rectangular body supporting flexible panel supported thereby, said frame comprising two identical rigid U-shaped juxtaposed side members which together provide four vertically disposed downwardly projecting frame supporting legs, and two identical rigid U-shaped end members having upwardly projecting panel supporting posts, each post being disposed alongside and in contact with a respective one of said supporting legs; and means encircling and firmly embracing each of the four contacting post and leg assemblies to rigidly maintain the two side members and the two end members in the specified relative positions, the four corners of the panel each being connected to and supported by a respective one of said posts, the posts being spaced to maintain the panel in a taut condition.

2. The cot described in claim 1 in which the means embracing each post and leg assembly is an elongated metal sleeve rigidly secured to one member of each such assembly and into which the other member of such assembly is slidable longitudinally.

3. The cot described in claim 1 in which the panel supporting posts are circular in cross section, and the panel is provided with a post receiving grommet in each of its four comers, and the holes in said grommets are of a diameter barely large enough to permit each grommet to slide downward over the free end of its respective post to thus anchor the panel to said posts.

4. The cot described in claim 3, and stop means carried rigidly near the upper end of each post to limit the downward movement of thejgro'mrne't thereon. 5. 'In a knock-down cot construction in which a rigid rectangular frame made up vof separable parts tautly and removably supports a flexible body supporting panel; an improved frameconstruetion comprising: two parallel horizontal juxtaposed side rails, two parallel horizontal laterally disposed end rails respectively positioned near the opposite ends of saidside rails; -integral downturned end portions at the respective opposite ends of said side a .-..l e 4 m a mils constituting four corner supporting legs for the Y assembled frame; integral upturned end portions 'at the respective opposite ends of said end rails constituting four panel supporting corner posts; and means removable and rigidly connecting each corner post to a respective adjacent cornerleg to hold the frame parts in assembled relationship, said posts serving as the sole means for supporting said panel and for maintaining it in' a taut condition. I

6. A cot including a generally rectangular rigid frame and a flexible panel of comparable size and shape suspended therefrom in lateral and longitudinal tension, said frame comprising two rigid generally U-shaped side members arranged in spaced parallel vertical planes with the legs at the respective opposite ends thereof downturned; two rigid generally U-shaped end members arranged .in spaced parallel'vertical planes normal to the first mentioned planes with the legs at the respective opposite ends thereof upturned and each disposed'along side a respective downturned leg of a side member; and an elongated rigid sleeve encircling each pair of legs which are disposed alongside each other and holding the legs together firmly, each said sleeve being rigidly secured to one of the encircled legs, the four comers of the flexible panel being secured to and supported in a taut condition by a respective one of the said upturned legs. 1

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,276,308 Hugh Mar. 17, 1942 2,689,603 Smith Sept. 21, 1954 2,702,586 Borgfeldt Feb. 22, 1955 2,860,351 La Russ a Nov. 18, 1958 

